


Misunderstandings

by eadunne2



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean Being an Idiot, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Happy, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Profanity but no sex, Punk Castiel, sorry - Freeform, this time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 08:22:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4428236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eadunne2/pseuds/eadunne2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gay marriage is legalized! Too bad Dean is totally not in love with Cas, and Cas is totally not in love with Dean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Misunderstandings

The knocking was surprisingly insistent.

“Dean. Dean!”

“Jesus tap dancing Christ, Cas.”

He rolled out of bed groaning. Not as young as he used to be.

“Who’sit?” Vic grumbled from the couch as he walked past. 

“Don’t worry ‘bout it man. Just Cas.”

Just Cas. Yeah right. Beautiful Cas or sassy Cas, prideful or sweet or loyal or stubborn, but Cas hadn’t been just anything to Dean for almost a decade now. 

Well. Just a friend. But that wasn’t what Dean wanted. Cas deserved a real partner, a real life, and hell if Dean would get in the way.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Dean checked that he was, in fact, wearing some sort of pants before ripping the door open with a yawn.

“What.” 

Cas looked radiant as always, tight blue tee and dark wash jeans hanging from his lithe frame with a cool casualness that Dean never could seem to muster. Light glinted off the studs in his eyebrows and lip, and he looked almost ethereal. He was squirming a little, which was unusual, Cas was always so put together, but Dean didn’t think anything of it.

“You dyed your hair.”

Cas grinned. “Time for a change. I like blue. What do you think?”

“Looks good,” Dean murmured truthfully, running a hand through his own hair and wishing it was Cas's. “What’s up?” 

He yawned again and missed the way Cas’s eyes raked down his body, darkening for a moment before they flicked back up.

“Did you hear about the SCOTUS ruling?”

“The huh?” Dean said, leaning on the door frame. Cas usually pushed past him into the house at this point, but he wasn’t moving forward, just fidgeting and chewing on his lip.

“The supreme court legalized gay marriage.” 

“Cas, man, that’s awesome!” Dean grinned and reached out to hug his friend. It had taken Dean until he was almost finished with college to admit he swung both ways, but Cas came out in high school, certain and assured and brave. Of the two of them, it was Cas that spent more time engaged in the politics of it, but Dean tried to keep up. 

“So I was thinking…” Cas drawled, face pressed against Dean’s shoulder.

“Yeah?” Dean knew he should withdraw, but he was chilly, and Cas’s body was so warm. 

Cas glanced up and Dean had to hold his breath for a moment to keep from making a noise at the look on Cas’s face. Sweet and open and vulnerable, a look Cas didn’t get with anyone else.

“Dean, I’ve been putting this off for a while…” his voice trailed off and Dean was no help in encouraging him to continue while he was drowning in those ocean blue eyes. “Because I was scared, but also because I wanted to do this right. You deserve for this to be done right.”

“Cas?” Dean whispered. They were still wrapped together tightly and Dean couldn’t tell if it was his heart or Cas’s that was hammering between them. 

“We’ve been friends for a long time. There’s no one I trust more, no one who knows me better.” 

Dean grinned. Damn right.

“Dean Winchester, I lo - ”

“Dean-o! You seen my jeans?” Vic’s voice rang out in the apartment and Dean felt Cas twitch in his arms. It was the last thing Dean wanted to think about, but he vaguely remembered having done laundry the night before and throwing his friend’s paint splattered pants in with the rest of it.

“Dryer!” he hollered back, then blinked down in confusion. Cas was pulling away, which was less than desirable, but that wasn’t the distressing thing. His eyes were dull and his face was closed off again, cool and calm and heartbreaking. 

“Cas?” 

It wasn’t that Cas wasn’t a stalwart kind of guy, he just wasn’t usually with Dean. Not in years. But now he was standing on Dean’s porch, hands in pockets, looking a million miles away. 

“Cas, what?”

But Cas just shook his head. “Never mind Dean. I thought…doesn’t matter. Have a good day.”

Have a good day? The fuck?

If Dean’s ringtone for Charlie hadn’t gone off that very second, he’d have chased after Cas, but as it was, he turned back into the house to answer it.

“Hello?” 

“Congratulations!” Charlie squeaked.

“What?”

“Congrats! Is Cas there? Can I talk to him?” She was talking a mile a minute and Dean's sleep deprived brain could barely keep up.

“He just left,” Dean sighed. “Why are you congratulating me?”

The silence on the other end was deafening. 

“Dean Winchester. What. Did. You. Do.” Charlie’s voice was ice, and Dean shivered. 

“Charlie, what are you talking about? What is going on?”

“Did you turn him down?”

“I don’t know! What the hell are you talking about?” he said with more bite than intended.

“He was gonna ask you to marry him.”

Dean froze. “What?” 

“The SCOTUS ruling and everything…He’s been meaning to say something for years now, this just seemed like the right time I guess, and he just- Wait. He didn’t even ask?”

Dean shook his head. “No. No he looked like he was about to say something and then Vic interrupted and- ”

“Who the fuck is Vic?”

“Friend of mine. He helped me paint the garage last night, we got a little too drunk, he passed out on the couch. He was looking for his jeans. Cas probably just got cold feet Charlie.” He huffed. “Who’d wanna marry me?” 

“Dean.” Charlie’s tone of voice indicated she was talking to a small child, or a very stupid person. “Does Castiel know that Vic is just a friend and not some dude you were boning?”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Char, you know I haven’t slept with anyone in over a year.”

“Dean of course I know you’re the fuck in love with your friend, but he doesn’t!”

The pieces clicked together. 

“SHIT. I gotta call you back.”

He didn’t stop for shoes or real pants, boxer briefs would suffice, just ripped the door open and hauled ass down the stairs, down the driveway, down the sidewalk, sprinting in the direction of the bus stop. 

“Cas! Castiel! Wait!” He saw the familiar, tousled head bowed into waiting palms where Cas sat on the little wooden bench. 

“Cas!” Dean skidded to a stop, stumbling with his bare feet on cement. It was then that he realized Cas’s shoulders were shaking, trembling, though he wasn’t making any noise. Dropping to his knees in front of his friend, Dean pleaded, “Cas. Please. Look at me.”

They’d been friends for a long time. Cas was there when Dean’s parents split, they were inseparable when Cas’s dad left his family, but Dean had never seen Cas cry. 

Not really. Not like this.

Not where he refused to be seen. Not where silent sobs shook the bones of his shoulders and the muscles of his stomach so hard it had to hurt.

“Go away, Dean.” His voice was a damp growl and Dean's chest ached.

“Cas you idiot, Vic is my friend.”

When he finally picked his head up, Dean watched as tears coursed their way down Cas’s cheeks and over the tattoos on his neck. Dean wiped them away with gentle fingers. 

“What?”

“Vic is my friend. I am not sleeping with him. I’m not sleeping with anyone.” Cas eyed him suspiciously. “Not in a long while. Not since I realized I – I’m in love with you.”

“You are?” Cas whispered, eyes wide. “But you’re…you. You’re strong and cool and smart and I’m some weird little nerd - ”

“Cas. Shut up.” They’d had this discussion a million times in high school when Dean was on the football team and Cas was getting really into art. He hadn’t realized it was still an issue. “You are gorgeous and successful and sweet and brilliant. I love you. I love you, Castiel.”

His words were finally catching up with him and although Dean was terrified, he felt a weight lifted from his shoulders. Finally, after all this time.

Cas's face opened up with breathtaking hope as he slid from the bench onto his knees in front of Dean and took Dean’s face in his hands. “Dean, will you marry me?”

A million memories flashed in his mind. Twelve year old Cas in a snow suit, rolling around his back yard. Staying up all night and talking on the roof in middle school. Video games and beers and college and boyfriends and girlfriends and every single second of it, the only thing he’d wanted was Cas. For Cas to be there with him, experiencing their lives together. The word yes was out of his mouth before he could even think it.

“Yes. Yes. Of course, Cas.”

Cas’s lips were soft under his, and Dean smiled into the kiss. Again and again he leaned in, pressing their mouths together sweetly, and now he was crying and Cas was laughing and they were tangled in each others arms when finally Cas spoke, his tone was teasing and snarky and so Cas that Dean’s heart swelled.

“You do realize you’re not wearing any clothes, yes?”

“Shut up,” Dean grumped, and Cas’s laugh rang out beautifully as he kissed him again.

“Hey. I’m not complaining.”


End file.
